American Jewish Committee Sees World Nazis Aiding German Anti-semitism

The American Jewish Committee commented today on the latest neo-Nazi vandalism in West Germany, warning that neo-Nazi groups in countries throughout the world are “supporting one another and carrying on unified propaganda campaigns.” The latest German incident occurred Sunday, involving the mounting of four photos of Adolf Hitler on the wall of Jewish Community House in West Berlin. Underneath were anti-Semitic slogans in English, as well as the address of the National Socialist movement in London. At the same time, swastikas defaced the walls of a West Berlin synagogue.

Dr. John Slawson, executive vice-president of the American Jewish Committee, declared today that, “although Nazi organizations in different countries, including West Germany, have not merged, they have succeeded in establishing informal liaison with one another–as well as with former Nazis and Fascists in hiding, or beyond the arm of the law in Spain, Argentina and the United Arab Republic.” He stressed that “anti-Semitic propaganda is sent from country to country and from continent to continent.” In addition, he pointed out, “anti-Semitic journals frequently borrow each other’s themes and carry advertisements for one another.”

Dr. Slawson cited a recently completed year long survey by the American Jewish Committee of current anti-Semitic activities abroad. This survey found that “supra–national anti-Semitism today is not a unified movement, but a tangle of small, loosely-knit alliances, torn by doctrinal disagreements and personal jealousies.” At the same time, the survey stressed that: “the Neo-Nazi internationals today are weak and divided and likely to remain so–certainly if Western Europe’s prosperity continues. Yet, if nothing else, they are keeping Nazi ideology alive, in the hope that some future political catastrophe or economic disaster will afford them the opportunities they now lack.”